1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for controlling the order of print operations for a printer and, more particularly, to a method for controlling the order of print operations for a printer, which is capable of primarily performing the print operation that has stood by for more than a predetermined time period and has the print data less than a predetermined size after calculating standby time periods for print and receiving the size information of printing data from computers that transmitted print requesting commands.
2. Description of the Related Art
As well known to those skilled in the art, a network is a communication structure in which two or more communication apparatuses are interconnected for the purpose of data communication and serves to transmit data between interconnected apparatuses. In this structure, transmitting and switching apparatuses as well as computers are interconnected by a communication line. The network may be classified into the Internet, a Local Area Network (LAN) and a Wide Area Network (WAN), depending upon its covering area. The Internet is a network in which networks are interconnected all over the world, the LAN is a network in which communication apparatuses are interconnected in a local area, and the WAN is a network in which communication apparatuses are interconnected in a wide area.
As computer networking technology is developed and services using the technology are increased, the operating systems of computers have progressed to Network Operating System (NOS) and Distributed Operation System (DOS).
In the meantime, a printer is an apparatus that receives print data from data transmitting apparatuses such as personal computers and prints the print data in the form of a document. Such a printer may be classified into a network printer or a computer-connected printer, depending upon the use of the printer. The network printer is directly connected to the network, while the computer-connected printer is connected to a computer connected to a network. The former has a network card for allowing communication to be possible.
In such a network operating system, when one or more computers request a network printer to print, the network printer receives print data and prints the print data, depending on the order of requests for printing.
That is, when a user selects a print command so as to output print data processed in various application programs via the network printer, the central processing unit of the computer transmits the print data by means of performing a spooling function.
The network computer performs a print operation after the receipt of the print data transmitted from a computer, and determines whether there are other print commands after the completion of the printing of the print data. When the network printer receives print commands from one or more computers, the printer performs print operations in the order of the receipt of print commands.
However, since the conventional print operation order controlling method allows the printer to perform print operations in the order of the receipt of print commands when the network printer receives print commands from one or more computers, the other computers that have transmitted the print commands should be in a spooling state. In such a case, when print data that is being printed currently is great in size, the standby time period for the other computers is lengthened, while the standby print data is very small in size, inconvenience in use and a waste of time are caused.